Spa Problem, Spa Trouble, Spa Maintenance
Many a spa problem or spa trouble can be linked to improper spa maintenance. Always follow the spa owners manual when It comes to spa maintenance. You may be surprised that once you have your spa that it takes a lot more time in spa maintenance than you were expecting. If the chemical balance is far off it may take some time to bring the chemical balance back into balance. The addition of a chlorine generator to the spa install has been found to drastically reduce the spa maintenance. A chlorine generator requires adding salt to the water hence making salt water. The salt water lasts a very long time before more needs to be added and typically the only thing you need to watch out for in spa maintenance is the pH level.
Tags: Spa Maintenance, Spa Problem, Spa Trouble
April 17th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Can someone tell me what the differences in Sanitizer’s are and what will do the Job.
Thanks
I have bought dry chlorine to put in and help clean the water , weekly and sometimes every other week,
It gets exspensive when buying from Spa stores.
April 17th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Good question Mike.
First are chlorine and bromine tablets. They are extremely low in pH which causes your water to become very aggressive as the pH and total alkalinity start dropping to low levels. This causes metal parts to deteriorate potential discoloration to the shell and of course eye and skin irritation. Chlorine powders and tablets sold for spa use also contain cyanuric acid and bromine tablets contain BCDMH which actually inhibit the ability of chlorine or bromine to effectively sanitize, especially as the levels increase.
What about CYA (Cyanuric Acid/Conditioner)? CYA is in chlorine granules and tablets. This can be a controversial subject but here is the reality. CYA is not recommended for spa use because it lowers the ability of the chlorine to oxidize. (ORP – Oxidation Reduction Potential) This can be witnessed in any pool or spa with an ORP controller. With a spa, the hot water will degrade the chlorine faster than sunlight and since I rarely ever see a hot tub that isn’t covered, so why use it? If you use CYA in a spa, it will take more chlorine to keep it marginally sanitized. Very high levels of chlorine will cause corrosion and bleaching.
With all that said, you could use liquid chlorine, bleach or a chlorine generator. for more information on chlorine generators for spas and hot tubs, check out http://value.club.officelive.com/HotTubAccessories.aspx
April 30th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I am confused as to what chemicals I can use. The advice you give here seems good but my local pool store says I have to use what they have. Can you give me some clarification on this ?
Thanks,
Walt
May 1st, 2009 at 9:36 am
Walt,
Good question. I know there is a lot of confusion out there. Simply put, there is a lot more money to be made selling specialty chemicals instead of giving people a choice of using natural ingredients you can get at your local store.
Hope this helps.
Spa Wizard